Short Interest in Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP) Expands By 55.1%

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. (NYSE:AMBP) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,730,000 shares, an increase of 55.1% from the February 13th total of 3,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,500,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMBP traded up $0.18 on Friday, hitting $2.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,448,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,430,366. Ardagh Metal Packaging has a 12 month low of $2.50 and a 12 month high of $4.26. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.29.

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Ardagh Metal Packaging had a positive return on equity of 1,760.00% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Equities analysts expect that Ardagh Metal Packaging will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.82%. Ardagh Metal Packaging’s payout ratio is -800.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMBP. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 171,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 3,970 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 146,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 4,030 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 4,731 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 139,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 90,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 5,218 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMBP shares. Bank of America downgraded Ardagh Metal Packaging from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $4.90 to $4.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.25 to $2.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ardagh Metal Packaging from $4.50 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $3.35 price objective (down from $3.60) on shares of Ardagh Metal Packaging in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ardagh Metal Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $3.60 to $3.10 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.44.

About Ardagh Metal Packaging

Ardagh Metal Packaging SA, together with its subsidiaries, supplies consumer metal beverage cans in Europe, the United States, and Brazil. Its products are used in various end-use categories, including beer, carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, hard seltzers, juices, pre-mixed cocktails, teas, sparkling waters, and wine.